A party, a trip to the ER, and skiing at Winter Park

After our overnight flight home from Hawaii (the boys slept, I did not!) we had a very quick 3 day turnaround before going to Winter Park to stay in a condo with my parents.  Those 3 days included an all day field trip for Zach, Valentine's Day, and a class party for Zach at school.  Whew!  It was a bit nuts. 

 

Austin and I went in to help with Zach's class Valentine's party.  I was going to pass on this one because I was tired and had a lot to do, but when we went to drop Zach off at school the two of them were almost in tears about it, so in we went!  Austin loves to go to Zach's school, and Zach LOVES to have Austin come in.  I like to go help with the class parties, and have often thought of leaving Oz with a friend so it can be special Zach time, but I get in trouble with the boys if I mention that.  He's really good there so it's okay.  :)

 

On a side note, one day on the way to school I heard them planning to sneak Oz in with Zach.  Zach told Austin, "Oz, you're just too small to go to school yet, buddy.  Oh!  But you would fit in my backpack!  You could take a snack and some water, but you would have to wait to eat that until you were out of the backpack.  I'll carry you in and once the door is closed I'll let you out and you'll be there with me!!"  Austin was like, "Ok!"  Good plan boys!  They are good buddies.

 

 

Oz followed Zach around and they would usually share a chair and Zach would let him help with what they were doing.  Sometimes one of the other kids would comment on Austin being cute and Zach would say, "Yeah, that's my little brother Austin!!"

 

 

 

Saturday after Zach's basketball game we threw stuff in the car to go skiing for the weekend and headed out.  After about 10 minutes in the car Austin says, "There's a bead in my nose.  It hurts."  Um, what?  Really?  Really.  The boys had been playing with some of those plastic "pony" beads in the basement... So we turned around and headed to the Avista ER.  The ER doctor didn't see anything, but said it was definately irritated, red, and swollen like something had been in there.  The truth came out that Zach had put a bead in his nose and snorted it out.  So, of course, Austin put one in, but I think instead of snorting it out, he sniffed it in.  The doc thought it had gone all the way through and just gotten swallowed down...  Fun times.  Luckily he didn't have to get it fished out and that was the end of it.  Not bad for our first trip to the ER.

 

 

We had our first whole family ski day!  It was so fun!  I must admit it is a bit intimidating to take your 2 year old on a ski lift.  It was Austin's first time skiing and he did fantastic!  Both boys did SO well skiing, we were so proud.  It was fun to be there with my parents, and nice to have extra helping hands.

 

Austin particularly liked to ski with Nana.  For some reason, she was just the best!  He would ski between our legs and hold onto a ski pole.  But he was really well balanced and it wasn't like we were holding him up.  He loved to go fast and would laugh and yell, "Faster!  Faster!"  Oh, that child is going to scare me...  no fear and a love of speed.

Zach was amazing!  He gained a ton of confidence and skill in those 3 days.  He figured out how to stop and turn well and began to love tree trails and jumps.  He even got air on one jump!  Cal and my parents took him up to the top of the mountain away from the bunny slope.  He skied a ton of greens and one blue.  He was wiped out at the end and Cal had to assist him down, but he was a trooper and skied a lot.

 

It was great to be up there all together!  We intended to get up a lot this winter, but time has flown by and things have prevented us from getting up more.  Maybe we'll squeeze in one more time before the snow is gone?